Personalized touchscreens to reduce errors

Let’s be honest: we all make errors when typing on touchscreens. And the rate of mistakes increases when we are typing and walking.

To fix that, Leah Findlater from the University of Maryland in College Park and Jacob Wobbrock from the University of Washington in Seattle invented WalkType, a software program that collects data on a person’s typing habits and uses it to alter keys on the keyboard for increased accuracy.

One test with the software focused on people walking and typing. Sixteen people typed on an iPhone while walking. Each person's habits were collected by the phone's accelerometer, which logged and compared typing errors to uncover the source of some mistakes.

One common error while walking and typing showed that when a person's foot hits the ground, their hand moves towards the center of the keyboard.

Then the data was used to alter the keys to better suit the individual. For example, the space bar was enlarged to help people strike it more accurately or some keys were lowered.

Thank You

By registering you become a member of the CBS Interactive family of sites and you have read and agree to the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Video Services Policy. You agree to receive updates, alerts and promotions from CBS and that CBS may share information about you with our marketing partners so that they may contact you by email or otherwise about their products or services.
You will also receive a complimentary subscription to the ZDNet's Tech Update Today and ZDNet Announcement newsletters. You may unsubscribe from these newsletters at any time.